Cultivating tool



y 1946 I 4 .J. F. LINDEN 2,400,2 41

CULTIVATING TOOL Fied'march -50, 1943 yn ven b r %W ATY Patented May 14, 1946 e *The object of this inventionis 'todeyise 'a hand cultivatin tool which wil-combine a plurality v of working-surfaCeS or blades' in a manner that they may be used independertly or in combination to perform avariety of Operations, such for r example, as cultivating the earth gcutting weeds,

removing superfiu'ou's or' undesirable `'plants from a bed or rofw, and, other operation psually 'require'd in' gardenin'g, andfpartinlarlyjtoi solarrange said' Working surfaces orjfibla desf'so" said Operations maybe car'rid 'out' with the" greatest efficiency. fjf r I I attain my object by constructing the tool substantially as hereinafter described andilhi'strated in the accompanying drawing'in which: Fig'. 1 is a plan View of the 'blank' from which the tool is con'structedand looking at'jthesur'-` face which will 'femi the realface of thetooh' Fig. 2 a 'side `vi`ew of 'the completed tool 'inthe working position it occupies whnised fr *chop ping and cultivating purposesy* Fig. 3 a side view of the tool in 'reversed'work-` ing position in which it is used for' levelling pu'rposes; i 7 ,e Fig. 4 a rear View of the tool in the working position it assumes when using the' end-for`-weed-' ing orplant thinning purposes; g Fig. 5 a plan View of a modified form of blank;

Fig. 6 a side View of the' tool` made from'the b1ankofFig.5. v In the drawing like numer'als' of referencesindicate corresponding parts in" the different' figures. v

The preferred form of the tool, which is illustrated in different working positions in Figs. 2, 3, and 4 is constructed from 'the blank shown in Fig. 1. This blank is provided with a shallow V-shaped recess at each end, and the line con necting the bottom's of the recesses is utilized as a bending line. The whole of that part of the blank at one side of the bending line serves as the main chopping or cultivating blade A,- of

which I is the main cutting edge, while that part of the blank at the other side of the bend line is divided to form a pair of spaced wing blades B, and an intermediate or central blade C.

The intermediate blade C is inclined forwardly relative to the plane of the main blade A, 'while the wing blades are incl'ned rearwardly, a will be evident from Fig. 2. It will be -noted that the blade C has its working edge 5 bevelled on the rearward face, while the wing blades B have their front working edge bevelled on the forward face, as will 'be apparent from Fig. 2.

{The tool 'is preferably formed from a 'single piece of sheet -met`al and is' provided with a handle hywhich by means of 'aferrule f is fitted to' a shank s projectin g from the reariace ,of the mainblade A. The method ofsecuring the handle to the tool-is not important, although 'its angle of 'inclination to the real-'face of the blade A, and also to the other blades is quite important to 'obtainf best results in use. Asw'i1l' be seen from Figxz, `the a xis of the' handle iiesat approximately 75 to the rear face of the main to the forward faces of the blades Band the rear fa'ces' of'the blade C lie'at one another; y

- It 'will a1s'o 'be seen from approximately to Fig.-2 that when the handle is inclined at an appropriate angle relative to the ground for' Operating the tool effectively, the position'of the wing bladeswill be substantially vertical, this rigid position" rendering the said blades inactive when not mac-mal use'and therefore not interfering with the use of the cuttingedge I of the main blade.

' Here, it shoul'dbe noted, that the large transverse space between the wing blades basing' the larger center blade C, provides an ample space fr thenobstructe'descape of the dir't and cut material lo''s'ened' by a rearward stroke of the main cutting edge of the chopping blade, which also will be the case if the tool is in the position indicated by Fig. 4 for use of the side cutting edges 2 and 3 either in unison or alternately.

The cutting edge I as well as the end edges 2 of the main blade A are bevelled on the forward sides, while the outer side edge 3 of each of the wing blades is also bevelled on the forward side.

As stated above, Fig. 2 shows the tool in the position' used in conducting ordinary hoeing operation, the blade A occupying a position re1ative to'the handle closely approximating that of the blade of an ordinary hoe.

The blade C is adapted for levelling or Smoothing ofi the surface of the soil, and is therefore termed a levelling blade. When in use it occupies a position a shown in Fig. 3, the operation being efiected by a pushing movement of the tool away from the operator.

The wing blades are intendedp rt r y for from the seed bed or row as in plant thinning, and when the tool is used for this purpose it will occupy substantially the position shown in Fig. 4, although it will work equally as Well for thi purpose with the other end downwards instead.

The tool may be inclined to either side as desired to enable the point of the wing blade formed by the meeting edges 3 and 4 or the point of the main blade formed by the meeting edges I and 2 to be usedin narrow spaces 'or it may be used as shown with the edge 2 and 3 cooperating to guide plants into the angle to enable In Fig. 1, it will be noted that the bend line of the wing blade B, a wll" as the levelling blade C is arranged parallel to the cutting edge I. In the modification shown in Fig. 5, the bend line for the blades B i'arranged at a slight angle to that of the levelling blade C, and therefore these wing blades will .be inclined outwardly as shown in Fig. 6, with the outer edge 3 a little ahead of the opposite inner edge. In this form, the edge 4 of each wing blade B is shown as V-shaped.

It is to be noted that the wing blades B, aretof small -size relative to the chopping blade and also comparatively small n relation to the intermediate or center blade C. The ,main unction of these auxiliary blades is to cut weeds and plants in close proximity to others-and in an early stage of growth, which requires careful and accurate cutting. As these wing blades are intended for finer work, they are not subjected to hard or rough wear, and therefore require little attention in the way-of sharpening and therefore are subject to little wear. g

When weeding and thinning rowcrops. with an ordinary hoe, it is difficult to remove the cut and loosening plants and dirt in a direction away from the user of the tool, due to the inclined position of the hoe blade. As a .result the 'side of the'row remote from the user will be either neglected altogether or only poorly worked on. Even if with much care the cut plants and dirt are pushed away in the direction referred to, the oppositely inclined plane of the hoe blade renders the cuttin edge inactive and-1eaves the 'weeds and superfluous plants 'only partly destroyed, and consequently subject to rapid regrowth. y

The levelling blade C is an important feature of the invention, a it provides necessary means to overcome the difliculties just referred to. By engaging said blade with the ground and pushing the tool, the levelling blade is in a proper position for cutting action and to remove the cut material and level the ground between the rows of plants, and it will .be noted that the wing blades B are disposed in a position to act as stops to prevent excessive digging in the ground of the levelling blade.

The Construction of the tool head with the Operating blades or elements, A,;B; and C in the assembly described provides a device with a plurality of cutting edges having a wide selective range of directions of the cut, rendering the de- 1 vice also very adaptable for cutting tops or leaves and stalks of root crops, such as turnips, beets, 'mangolds etc. while the roots are still i standing in the ground.

It will be evident that the angles between the axis of the handle and the various cutting blades may be variedas described, to better fit the tool for particularcrops; the angles indicated being only suggested as being suitable for general purposes.

What I claim as my invention is: p

1. A cultivating tool comprising a plate head bent transversely to form at one side of the bend a ,chopping blade, the lower mar-gin of which forms a main cutting edge, and at the other side of the .bend a pair of spaced and rearwardly inclined wing blades, a centrally located blade projecting from its transverse base intermediate the wing blades, said center blade being disposed forwardly in a direction opposite and away from the wing blades, therewith positioning the former at an obtuse angle to the front face of the chopping blade andat substantially right angles to a plane aligned with the wing blades, handle securing means, and amanipulating handle fixed at an acute angle to the choppin blade and therewith at an obtuse angleto the forwardly disposed center blade. r

2. In a cultivating tool, a plate head' as defined in claim 1, and in which the forwardly disposed center blade is of a greater Width transversely than the width of either of the wing blades. v i. g

v 3. In a cultivating tool, a plate head as defined in claim 1, and in which the center blade terminates forwardly with a transverse cutting edge bevelled from its rear face, and each of the wing blades being bevelled from the front face to form cuttng edges.

JOHN F. LINDEN. 

